DEAR SOPHIE

LETTERS TO MY SERVICE DOG ... The link to my personal blog, WENDY-LAND, is listed at right.

04 June 2013

Happy 9th Birthday!

Dear Sophie,
Happy Birthday!  Nine years old!  We owe you a new peanut butter bone next time we get to PetSmart, but at least you got your main present on time ... How do you like your new interactive treat toy?  I think it'll keep you plenty busy trying to figure it out.
In this year's birthday post I won't say, "My how the time has flown."  It hasn't.  So many things have happened in all our lives I'm actually thinking, "Has it only been one year?"
You've been a major source of comforting distraction to Daddy and me as we've faced extreme health issues in both of our mothers, and you've even been there to offer some cheer to them too.  I can't tell you how much it has meant to us to have you around to keep us from sinking over the daunting challenges of dealing with all this.
And what a wild and crazy year this has been for you too!  Two cancer surgeries, the unexpected complication of a seroma after your last one, and then ... ta-da ... the addition of a new baby brother, Cubby.
It was a brand new experience for you.  You've never had to share us before and, when we first brought him home, you were noticeably annoyed.  He wanted so much to play with you and you didn't want much to do with him at all.
Then by the second night, you must've decided he wasn't going anywhere so you might as well step up to the surrogate mother role, and you've been great ever since.  You don't do much cuddling with him.  Mostly you've been the disciplinarian, teaching him that nipping and head-butting are not acceptable, many of the things his own mom would've taught him if he had stayed with her for that final week.  You're really good at that, Sophie.  His head and neck fit very nicely into your mouth and you quell that obnoxious behavior very well.  Your motherhood job seems to fulfill your life lately, as there hasn't been a lot of service work I've been asking of you.  I'm glad.  You need a job, and this one is every bit as important as helping me.  Y'know, Sophie, maybe between the two of us, we just might be able to keep that boy in line!  What do you think?
Your life is changing, my pretty lady, and I marvel at the grace with which you're aging.  It dares me to catch a glimpse of a year down the road when I'm writing up your tenth birthday post.  You'll surely be fully retired by then, but only from service work.  You'll never retire from my heart or my love.